Monthly Archives: July 2012

It’s always a pleasure when a fellow teaching friend writes and publishes a book. I am all for celebrating on their behalf. So I was happy to learn  that Gaetan Pappalardo (part of the National Writing Project network and a regular contributor to Edutopia, and whose online motto is teach.write.rock) had finally gotten his children’s novel — Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes: Battleaxe — out for sale. Gaetan writes a lot of great pieces about the connections between music and writing, and how to use that interest in music in the classroom. His short (self-published, I believe) novel builds on that idea of music having powers beyond what we hear, but the book does it with humor, adventure and even some wacky science fiction built in.

I’ll admit: I am a sucker for stories that use music as the anchor. Here, the narrator — Louie Licks, an elementary student whose fame with his guitar is already legendary (if you go to his school) — shares with us his incredible adventure when his electric guitar gets stolen right before a gig at a breakfast at his school. The thief (disguised first as a milkman) is trying to tap the power of the guitar (you’ll have to read the book to understand what that is all about), and it is up to Louie and his drummer friend, Grady (my brutha!), to save the day by saving the school … and possibly the world.

Gaetan writes with flare (and the illustrations by Amy English are cute), and the voice of his young protagonist comes through loud and clear. I particularly liked his interactions with his little brother, whom Louie has nicknamed “Grunge.” The oddest character is Louie’s dead grandmother, who arrives at opportune moments to help Louie out of jams. (The guitar was hers before it was Louie’s.) There is also an entire part of the story that revolves around farting, so you know the boys in class will be chuckling over the passing of gas.

A bonus is that Gaetan, who is a musician himself, has set up a website where Louie and his bandmates have recorded some of their music. Take a listen to Louie Licks and the Wicked Snakes.

Peace (in the power of music),
Kevin

I’ve been through my fair share of Stephen King in my lifetime, and I have mostly enjoyed his stories. There are plenty of critics who take pot shots at him from a variety of angles, but I have found that if I go into his novels with the mindset of “story” and maybe “scary story,” then I am fine. He hits all the right notes when he is on his game. When King’s On Writing came out, I bookmarked it but then never got around to picking it up until now.

It’s an intriguing look inside the mind of a popular writer, and there’s plenty of voice that comes through here, too, including his own pot shots right back at his critics. King has a lot to say about writing, but what I found the most interesting, to be honest, is the earlier sections where he talks about how broke into the world of writing. Mostly, it was through the support of his wife, Tabitha King (a writer in her own right), and On Writing does come across as sort of love letter to her. Never underestimate the support and ear of your spouse. There are also many threads of the horrific accident that happened to King one day, as he was walking down a rural road and was struck by a truck. Talk about mortality check.

The middle sections of On Writing go deeper into the art of writing, as King sees it, and those sections work fine, but the best piece of advice is this: read. A lot. Read a lot of books, and pay attention to style, development of ideas, character voice. If you want to be a writer, you need to notice the craft of writing, and you do that by reading.

Oh, yeah, and avoid using too many adverbs. King doesn’t like that — he thinks it is a writer, cheating. I’m sort of with him on that idea of avoiding too many flourishes and instead, stick to the story.

If you have any aspirations to be a writer, or if you are fan of King, or heck, even if you want a good read, On Writing is worth your time. (Check out some excerpts if you are interested.)

Peace (in writing),
Kevin